Politics

Politics

There are 1,050 posts filed in Politics (this is page 77 of 105).

Climate talk at UNC

I gave a talk at UNC yesterday on climate change from a national security perspective. This wasn’t an official “Operation Free” event but it came about from my association with Operation Free. I was invited by the North Carolina Conservation Council to speak to interested students on climate change. The talk was sponsored by Earth Day Revolution.

About 40 students showed up: pretty respectable considering it’s finals week! I was a panelist with three experts (I was going to say “other experts” but that would put me in their league). My ten-minute talking time was taken up with five minutes of the Pew Climate Patriots video, leaving me five minutes to tell my story. Well, it turns out five minutes isn’t enough – I had so much to say that when I returned to my seat I was kicking myself for not covering some items. Still, my speech seemed effective and I was told later that I did an outstanding job.
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Big telcos go after municipal broadband in N.C. again

It looks like the big telcos are trying once again to block municipal broadband projects in North Carolina. Legislation is expected to be introduced in the N.C. Senate’s Revenue Laws committee next week that will seek a moratorium on municipal broadband projects, allegedly because it will “harm state tax revenue.”

Please contact the folks below and let them know this bill is harmful to North Carolina:
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Famous family

Tonight at our dinner out, I was talking with the kids about people who shared last names with famous people. Just for fun, I asked them if they knew anyone famous who had Turner as a last name.

Hallie looked at me and said, “well, … you, Daddy!”

“Who, me?” I playfully scoffed. “What makes you think I’m famous?”

“Well, you’re on the Parks and Recreation Board and do all those neighborhood meetings,” she answered matter-of-factly. There was a look of pride in her eye and I wasn’t going to argue with her.

I live a crazy life between work, family, and community. For too many evenings to count, I’ve been in some meeting when I might have been putting the kids to bed, attending one of their practices, or some other event. It’s hard being away, and not always fair to Kelly, but I’m glad to know that Hallie admires what I’m doing. It’s a true honor being famous in the eyes of my kids!

Court rules against FCC in Net Neutrality case

A federal appeals court ruled today that the FCC lacks the authority to enforce Net Neutrality in a case against Comcast.

“This decision destroys the F.C.C.’s authority to build broadband policy on the legal theory established by the Bush administration,” said Ben Scott, the policy director for Free Press, a nonprofit organization that advocates for broad media ownership and access.

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LTE on school board

I just sent this letter to the N&O. I hope they print it.

In light of our area’s high unemployment rate and sagging housing market, I can’t think of a worse time for a costly social-engineering experiment with the Wake County School System: the heart of Wake County’s economic engine.

We’ll have five members of Wake’s school board to thank when our taxes get hiked to pay for this boondoggle.

N&O forgets the other side of the aisle

The N&O’s Mark Johnson reported on state Senator R.C. Soles’s guilty plea to assault charges yesterday. I don’t know the true circumstances of what took place at Soles’s house, though when a homeowner shoots a stranger in their home it’s often in self-defense. Soles pled guilty and that’s that.

I do take issue with the way Johnson painted the picture that it’s almost always Democrats in trouble. Johnson seems to forget state Rep. Cary Allred, the Burlington Republican who was about to get ticketed for driving 102 MPH but pulled rank on the trooper and got off – at least until the news broke. He was also said to have showed up drunk to the General Assembly and gave what many witnesses considered to be an inappropriate hug to a female teenage page. Not exactly Boy Scout behavior, is it?

I’m just as upset as others are of the shenanigans taking place with state politicians. Unlike most politics lately, though, this truly is a bipartisan effort. Let’s not omit that, Mr. Johnson.

City email addresses are public records

My friend John Beimler decided to take advantage of the Public Records law and get a copy of all the email addresses from all the email lists the Town of Cary maintains. The following email went out to all the folks on those lists:

We want to let you know that a person has requested a copy of the e-mail addresses from all Town of Cary electronic mailing lists, and as a subscriber, your email address is included in this database. Therefore, you may begin receiving emails from others outside of our control. As a reminder, the database is a public record under North Carolina law (see our Public Records Policy and our Privacy Statement).
The email lists are being requested by:
John Beimler
1206 Castalia Dr
Cary, NC 27513
919-926-7264
jbeimler at radiomind dot com.
As always, we apologize for any inconvenience this may bring and hope that the actions of others will not result in your deciding to unsubscribe from the Town’s e-mail service. Please contact us if you have questions or need further information.
Susan Moran, APR
Town of Cary Public Information Officer
susan dot moran at townofcary dot org

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